Michigan Football: 5 key takeaways from the defense this spring

Even without Bush, LB’s have tons of versatility

One of the biggest question marks facing Brown and the defense heading into 2019 was replacing All-American linebacker and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year in Bush.

One thing that made Bush so valuable was, of course, his incredible athleticism but also his versatility. He could cover, blitz, stop the run and do just about everything else.

Obviously, finding one guy that can do all that will be difficult, at least one that can do it as well as Bush, however, it seems Michigan football found a poor man’s version at least in Josh Ross.

Ross played well in a starting role, finishing with 54 tackles, 5.5 TFL and one sack. He’s a good athlete and will be productive in Bush’s role. Yet, what’s even more promising than that is the progress shown by Devin Gill.

Gill was torched by Ohio State and Florida in man coverage and in truth, that’s a tough spot for a linebacker to be in. But with Bush moving on, he needed to improve if he was going to play that weak inside spot. Brown had good things to say about him, noting that he looked better athletically and with Cam McGrone also having a strong spring, Michigan is in good shape.

Another interesting thing is how versatile they are. Josh Uche is taking snaps at linebacker, Khaleke Hudson is still the viper along with Jordan Glasgow and also redshirt freshman Michael Barrett, who moved over from running back. Say what you will, this group is going to be exciting.